[Image]Our vacation with Ed continued after the Grand Canyon and other adventures, but we're going to take an interlude with this post and show some more recent stuff we've been doing. It's been a great summer, with so many fun things going on.

Nomi organized a play date up where she lives, and we were happy to accept. She has a whole area for a variety of activities, and Desert Boy was delighted to try out the play dough ice cream maker. Playing with different toys is always a real treat.
[Image]Emma agreed. She thought the big orange bubble wand would be a wonderful chew toy.

[Image]Or at least fun to lick! There were some bubble remnants on it, but she didn't seem to mind.

[Image]Brandon had fun wearing one of the animal masks. Sometime in the future I can imagine the kids playing a game and pretending they're the animals they're wearing.

[Image]Desert Boy couldn't resist playing with the water toys. He did listen to his Mama, who told him that he couldn't get wet until later. But you can see the glitter in his eyes. He's already imagining the moment when he can splash and jump in.

[Image]Isaac and Emma hung out together on the soft blanket. Isaac has mastered sitting and is really good at grabbing what he's reaching for.
[Image]The older kids started painting.

[Image]Desert Boy was busy painting on one side. Do you like his attire? Nomi provided painting shirts (thanks, Nomi!), and so that is on correctly. Desert Boy did the rest of the dressing himself. His pants are on backwards and are a little big, so he wanted the belt. The belt is also on backwards and somehow didn't manage to go through any of the belt loops. It made me smile.

[Image]Getting the paint on the canvas obviously wasn't the highest priority for Charlie and Ava. They were having a super time playing in the paint. Still photos don't really capture the energy level, but the video does a good job of it:



[Image]And then it was finally time--time to get wet! The kids stripped down. Desert Boy happily did that all by himself, and to my great surprise kept on his underwear (backwards, of course). He likes to run around sans clothing at home at times, but he has been very proud that he's a Big Boy and wears underwear now, and that might be why he kept it on. He tells me at least once a day, "I'm a Big Boy and I wear underwear." I smile and nod and agree heartily. This is something we'll be happy to go along with.

[Image]Elizabeth didn't want to get wet, but she had fun mixing paint colors and pouring them from one container to another.

It was a really fun play date, with so many neat activities. I didn't even photograph them all, and Desert Boy left crying because he didn't want to leave.

[Image]The next day we were ready for some more fun, with a foray to the nearby playground. Charlie and Ava had fun bouncing around.

[Image]They are so cute!
[Image]Desert Girl wanted to sit up and make sure she didn't miss any of the action.
[Image]And it was quite some action. Jenny had brought a swimming pool and put it under the slide. We filled it up, and presto, we had a water slide! It was a hot day, perfect for a water slide. Desert Boy went splash.
[Image]Charlie went splash.
[Image]Ava went splash!
[Image]Meanwhile, Brandon was checking out Isaac and Emma under the shade umbrella (with Henry nearby).
[Image]Both of the little ones are teething and are constantly chewing on things.
[Image]That gave Jenny time to try out the water slide. What a great idea, Jenny, thanks for bringing it!
[Image]The hose made the slide extra slick and even the adults when splashing into the pool.
[Image]We soon had a huge group of kids enjoying all the fun.


[Image]Meanwhile, Hector was trying to figure out the bouncy ball.
[Image]I think everyone had a great time.